Monsoon Aims to Make Watching Your TV Anywhere Easy

Monsoon Multimedia unveiled two products here at CES which strive to provide better access and control to your TV programs. The company’s Volkano Flow and Vulkano Blast set-top boxes let users view and record TV content that they normally enjoy in the living room on both mobile and computing devices.

Similar to the popular SlingBox family of products, the Vulkano devices connect to satellite or cable boxes via component inputs to grab TV programing. Users can then stream live or DVR-recorded video content to watch either on PCs and Mac, or remotely with portable gadgets such as smart phones and tablets. Mobile access to the Volkano product is achieved through apps available for purchase on iOS, Android, and Blackberry platform devices ($9.99).

Notably, the Volkano system has the power to incorporate program guide information from cable and satellite providers, letting users find their favorite shows and schedule DVR recordings when away from home. Best of all, the Volkano Flow offers all this functionality for $99. The more expensive Volkano Blast adds and HDMI output and an internal 160GB hard drive for $199. It also uses UPandP connectivity to facilitate streaming of multimedia residing on compatible mobile devices onto TVs. Monsoon also says that plans are in the works to give the Blast services from folks such as Netflix, Amazon, and Yahoo.

Expect both the Vulcano Flow and Vulkano Blast to become available for purchase sometime in January, 2011.